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Chapter 2

The truck slowly pulled up a makeshift driveway that was as icy as the road they had just turned off. Wolverine slowly looked up as the vehicle stopped, noticing a small house that was so covered in snow, it blended in almost perfectly into the large woodland around it. He looked round suddenly as he heard Anna exit the car, his eyes quickly darting around before the car door on his side was suddenly open by the woman. She extended her hands to him, but he ignored them, merely pushing out of the vehicle of his own accord. He may be desperately weak, but he wasn't going to be mothered. However, he hadn't managed to get both his feet on the cold earth before he lost his balance and collapsed onto his knees.

Anna gasped as he plummeted and quickly bent down to him, "Let me help you," she insisted, her hands taking hold of his arm as she aided him back to his feet. He did not push her away this time, but instead allowed the woman to guide him across the snow and towards the cabin. She was quick to unlock the door, her hold on him leaving for no more than a few seconds before she pushed the door open with a booted foot and helped him inside.

The room within was dark and unlit, the only light coming through the frosty glass windows. Ahead of them was a living room, leading on towards a kitchen. To the left of the small room was a spindly staircase disappearing up into darkness. The walls and flooring were both made of wood, brightened with a few simple decorations hung off the walls. An unlit stone fireplace sat against the far outside wall, opposite it a sagged brown couch. There was an armchair by the fire with a knitted throw upon it. It was admittedly homely.

Wolverine was an extremely heavy man, and with a lot of effort, Anna managed to get him towards the old couch against the staircase. With a heaved grunt, Anna dropped him upon the couch, and he slumped, quite easily into the sofa material. His head lolled a little as he groaned quietly to himself. Anna had turned away for a mere moment to shut the large wooden door, blocking out the howling winds that was making the small house all the more cold. With the noisy blizzard shut off, the house fell into a rather pleasant quietness.

"Are you sure you're not injured?" she asked softly as she walked back towards the man. Her eyes trailed the bloodied features of the man.

"I'm sure." He sat up slowly, sighing, "I'm just cold."

"Well that's no surprise," Anna crouched besides the seating, looking up at the man, "How long had you been out in the snow for?"

"I don't know," he replied gruffly, "It felt like forever."

Anna straightened slowly worried eyes watching him. "There's a bath upstairs if you want to get cleaned up. I've been heating up some water for myself earlier, so there'll be plenty for you."

"Alright," murmured Wolverine, pushing himself up slowly, Anna took his arm again to help him stand.

"I'll help you up the stairs. Will you be alright with the bath?"

"I know how to take a bath," he muttered quietly as he walked slowly along side her. He couldn't remember a lot, but he had the basic grasps of life.

Anna gave a slight smile, "I know," she said quietly, reaching the staircase. Together, the pair ascended the narrow staircase; with Anna holding onto him particularly tight as he bare feet shakily took each step.

The upstairs area of the cabin was even smaller, for the roofs sloped to the centre. There were only two rooms up here, one presumably been a bedroom and the other, across the hall, the bathroom.

"I'll bring you a towel," said Anna gently as she released the man, "and find you some clothes."

Wolverine nodded gratefully in response before he headed by himself into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. He leant against the closed door, a hand rising to his face as he sighed quietly. He quickly pulled the hand from his face, staring at the dried blood that marked it. He could still smell it. He closed his eyes slowly, feeling angry tears burn for release. Forcing them back with a fierce sigh, he shook his head in a bid to try and wake himself out of him thoughts. All he could recall was sheer pain, and the blind desperation as he escaped. He had never felt so angry and so fiercely determined. His escape had been fuelled solely by feral bloodlust, to kill those who got in his way. But looking back, it had made him something he never wanted to be. A murderer. And now here he was, with no memories other that the nightmarish ones he had been subjected to the previous evening. His memories started from the point he decided he wanted out.

It didn't answer anything.

What were his claws?

Who did it?

.. And why did it happen to him?

The blood was gone. But he didn't feel clean inside. Anna had given him a towel to dry with, and clothes he could wear. Since, he had joined her downstairs where she had forced him to sit in the armchair closest to the fire, which had been lit and was now a gloriously warm blaze. At his feet, Anna sat cross-legged on the rug, having remained silent whilst he ate the food she had prepared for him. She knew she was mothering him, but he had looked so lost and desperate, she felt he needed it. He needed someone to steer him from whatever had happened to him.

Whatever that was.

There was a moment in which he had lowered his empty bowl to the table besides him and he settled into just staring at the fire sombrely. Anna, deciding against distracting him from his reverie, had she stood to her feet to clear away the dirty dishes. But without any warning, the man buried his hand into his face and from the soft sounds; there was no doubt that he was crying.

Anna regarded him with worried eyes for a moment before she gently placed a hand on his shaking shoulders, "It's alright," she whispered quietly, "You're safe now."

"You don't understand," he muttered amongst his almost silent sobs. "You don't know what's happened. I've killed them, so many of them.."

Hesitantly, Anna canted her head slowly, "Who?"

"I don't know.. I can't remember anything."

"When I found you.. where had you come from? Why were you naked?"

Wolverine slowly lowered his hands, staring into the fire for a moment before he looked up at her, "I had escaped from this place.. it was something like an laboratory. They had done things to me.."

Anna released the bowl slowly and crouched down besides the armchair, watching him closely, "What kind of things?"

"I'm not sure.. but.." he shakily extended a hand towards her, and she looked down at it slowly. The hand clenched into a fist, and with concentration three knives shot out of his knuckle, startling Anna as she fell back with a surprised cry. "They did this," he whispered, shining eyes locked upon the claws as he held them up, "And I don't even know who they are."

"What are they?" whispered Anna quietly, staring at the blades.

"Weapons," said Wolverine solemnly, "And I used them.. to escape." The fist shook as the blades retracted, leaving three bleeding wounds between his knuckles. "I can't remember anything beyond that," he whispered, "I have no idea if I had a life before all this."

"I'll help you," Anna sat up slowly, looking down at the hand that now lay on the chair arm. "To try and discover who you are and who did this to you."

"There's one thing I do know," said Wolverine quietly, looking down at his hand. The wounds between his knuckles were swiftly healing "that I am a mutant."

There was a strong silence between the pair before Anna finally spoke, "Do you think that's why they used you? Experimentation, on mutants?"

"It makes sense.." Wolverine raised his hand slowly, taking the dog tag that was around his neck; he tugged it off, extending it to the woman. "This is my only possession."

Anna took the dog tag in her fingers, turning it so she could read the stamped-in text, "Wolverine?"

"My name. I have no idea what my real one is."

Slowly, she handed the tag back to him, "I'm Anna."

Wolverine watched her gently for a moment before he looked down at the tag slowly, running his thumb carefully across the name, "I have no idea who I am. This is all I have.."

"I'll help you, I promise.. and you can stay here, until you find out what it is you are looking for.."

He merely grunted incoherently, closing his eyes as he rested his forehead on his clenched knuckle. The chain of the dog tag hung from his fisted fingers. Anna stepped back as the man was sat in silence. She gathered the empty bowl from the table, regarding Wolverine gently before she turned away and into the kitchen.

Wolverine sighed quietly to himself as his eyes squeezed tighter, tears trickling slowly down his roughened features when Anna could not see.

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